WABI, WVII report on Aging Initiative Summer Workshop Aug. 24

WABI (Channel 5) and WVII (Channel 7) reported on the fourth annual University of Maine Aging Initiative Summer Workshop Aug. 24 in Belfast. “Now at the system level all seven campuses are collaborating to work on this challenge that the state is facing around aging,” University of Maine System Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Innovation and Partnerships Carol Kim told WABI. “We are doing what the public university system should be doing by trying to meet the needs of the state.” More than 100 people attended the workshop, which focused on ways to address the needs of Maine’s older generation and keep them in the state, WABI reports. “Particularly exciting is today we brought together not only academics from all seven campuses who are doing research on aging initiative projects, but we brought together community professionals and so we have an awesome mix of both the community and academics coming together and talking about what it means to be in an aging Maine,” said Lenard Kaye, a professor of social work and the director of the University of Maine’s Center on Aging. Kaye said that some UMaine faculty members have created adaptive technology for aging individuals with mobility limitations. “Not only can we help Mainers, but from the technologies that we’re developing companies are springing up, and the aging initiative can be an economic driver for the state as well,” Kim told WVII.